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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thank You Lord

I can’t believe it’s that
time again. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and another year will soon
be gone forever. Thanksgiving Day is my favorite holiday.

Fall (autumn) began a few
months back, and I love the fall. Can’t say much for winter, but it does make
the anticipation of spring come alive within me. Since I’m talking about the
seasons, I’ll reveal that my favorite time of season is summer, even though I
have to mow, and my second favorite is the fall. Winter of course is last and
that leaves spring at number three.

Thanksgiving is football,
parades, and lavish meals for many people. I’m not a very big sports fan, but some
of my neighbors would have a heart attack if the TV went out during their game
time. Bless their hearts. It is nice though to be able to relax and watch some
football and/or basketball now and then. I just can’t get into baseball
however. I’ve tried, but I’d rather stand in the pasture and watch cows graze
than watch a televised baseball game.

Anyway, there is so much we
have to be thankful for in this country. Even with all our problems, and there
are many, I wouldn’t live anywhere else if I could.

I’m thankful most of all that
God has saved me and that my and my wife’s family know the Lord too. What a
blessing it is to be married to a beautiful Christian lady, who loves the Lord
and longs to know Him more and more. She is my best friend and I don’t say that
facetiously.

When I think about my
children and grandchildren, I am so proud of them, and I don’t think there is
anything wrong with that kind of pride. I love them dearly and feel so bad for
them that they have to face a world of so much moral rot. They didn’t get to
enjoy the “Mayberry” years I grew up in. It is tragic that society has crawled
down into the sewers of moral degradation.

I also thank God for the tough
times I’ve been through in the past because He showed me and taught me so much
of Himself. That isn’t to say I enjoyed the difficult years, far from it, but
looking back, I wouldn’t trade them away. When I could see no light at the end
of the tunnel at times, He was preparing blessings for me beyond my hopes and
dreams. I asked for water. He gave me the well. I ask for bread. He gave me a
banquet. You can’t beat that.

Now some of you are going to assume
my wife and I live in a million dollar mansion atop some knoll looking down on
everyone else. If so, back that buggy up. It ain’t so. We live in a small
modest house in a sub-division with great neighbors and yapping dogs (theirs).
By the way, I actually prefer cats, but after 21 years our little buddy passed
away. Many of those blessings have been material in nature, but not in material
riches. The riches have come spiritually and through family and friends.

Don’t you find it sad and
annoying that Thanksgiving has become the “freckled-faced step-child of the latter
part of each year? The fourth quarter of the year has four main holidays; i.e.
Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Isn’t it puzzling that
Satan’s crowd wants to push out of existence anything referring to God? So why
hang on to Christmas? The Ten Commandments have been kicked out of the schools,
along with prayer and God’s Word, the Bible. Manger scenes are a “no-no.” I’m
surprised crosses haven’t been removed from the highways where people have died
in car wrecks. So why hang on to Christmas? Greed. Money. There’s money to be
made from this holiday, so they try to change it to Xmas. I pray that people
continue to rebel against that blasphemous attempt.

Anyway, Thanksgiving got lost
somewhere between Halloween and Christmas. Christmas advertising starts even
before the arrival of Halloween. Thanksgiving is rarely mentioned though, other
than to remind us to buy (money again) that turkey and spend the whole day watching
those parades and ballgames.

Are we not thankful for
anything at all? Thanksgiving to me is a family experience, enjoying each
other’s company, and reminiscing on our blessings from God. To so many people
though, it’s more about food. Hey look, I like food as much as the next guy,
and I love the food prepared at this time, but I also feel we’ve lost the true
meaning of Thanksgiving, just as we have with Christmas. Thanksgiving equals
food. Christmas equals presents. There’s something wrong with that picture.

I thank God especially for
saving my soul. I know I’m not worthy of it and I know I don’t deserve it, but
that is the beauty of His grace. None of us could ever be worthy and certainly
none of us deserve it, but He paid our sin debt anyway. All I had to do at some
point in my life was believe upon Him by faith, and that I did. Since He never
leaves anything half-done, He lives within me each day, helping me follow Him
in the power of His Spirit, and assures my arrival in Heaven when this life is
done.

Have you ever sat down and
just started writing out the many ways the Lord is blessing you, especially
when you think Murphy’s Law is pressing down on your life? I have. It can be
very eye-opening. We may complain about having no shoes, but then someone else
may have no feet. We may complain at the long-winded preacher keeping us from
our Sunday dinner, but how many others gather together to worship Jesus at the
risk of their lives? We may complain that our arthritis is acting up, when our
neighbor is dying from cancer. Finally, we may complain of the knuckleheads
destroying this once Christian country, and I do, but would we rather live in
North Korea?

I’m thankful to God that we
in this country have been so materially blessed, but let us not forget why. Our
forefathers set us upon the right path, but those blessings could go at any
time, and they very well may since we have strayed from the narrow road. What
then? This may sound cliché, but if we have the Spirit of God living within us
and live for Him, we are rich and blessed beyond measure.